


A Day To Remember

by damerey_knows



Series: Damerey Resistance 2019 [8]
Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Christmasy au kinda, F/M, Found Families, Hurt/Comfort, canon AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-12
Updated: 2019-12-12
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:55:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,779
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21765643
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/damerey_knows/pseuds/damerey_knows
Summary: Rey has never had a family to spend Remembrance Day with.... at least not until now.
Relationships: Poe Dameron/Rey
Series: Damerey Resistance 2019 [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1239083
Comments: 12
Kudos: 50
Collections: Damerey Discord Shenanigans





	A Day To Remember

**Author's Note:**

  * For [BatuuPrincess](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BatuuPrincess/gifts).



> Okay this is gifted to [BatuuPrincess](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BatuuPrincess/pseuds/BatuuPrincess) for posting [THIS](https://twitter.com/roberto_draws/status/1199391696729063424?s=12) pic in the Discord and making everyone feel the FEELS 
> 
> so naturally I had to write them 
> 
> Hope you enjoy <3

Rey was twelve when she finally bought her way out of Unkar’s junk shop. It wasn’t really a liberation, she still needed to return to him for most of her trades, but now instead of giving everything she collected to him and hoping he’d give her any portion at all. She was able to sell all her finds to him, or threaten to go to one of the few other buyers on Niima Outpost. It didn’t keep her well fed, but better fed than she was before. 

Rey found herself walking into the outpost one night, dragging what little she had been able to salvage from a nearby x-wing. She was hoping that she would be able to save up enough parts to build a transport of some kind, maybe just a sled, or, possibly, even a speeder. That would make the trek to the further wreckages easier, and she would be able to carry larger loads. Her stomach rumbled as she walked up to Unkar’s stall. 

A quarter portion. All that work, dragging pieces that were about as large as she was across the desert, and all she got was a quarter portion. She had tried a few of the others but Unkar’s deal was the best. 

Rey sighed as she tucked the vacuum sealed package into the bag hanging at her hip. She took a deep breath and began to walk out to the edge of the outpost. She looked wistfully at Unkar’s junkyard. There were several old ships docked there. Rey wasn’t sure if any of them were in working order, but she couldn’t help thinking maybe they’ll come back on a ship like that. 

She sighed, tugging her empty sack behind her. 

Rey turned as she heard loud laughter behind her. There, some twenty meters away was a small boy she vaguely recognized from the small village on the other side of Niima Outpost. The boy was laughing as he opened a small bag his mother had given him and pulled out a loaf of fresh bread. 

Rey stared enviously at the bread. She had never had anything other than the polystarch Unkar gave her for the parts she scavenged, which took some of her precious water to even make it edible let alone taste  _ good _ .

She also wondered what it would be like to have a mother to provide those things for her.

Rey sniffled and turned her head from the happy scene.

"Where are you going, child?" a deep voice said above her.

Rey turned to see a tall man with hair whiter than the sun on the sand.

Rey shrugged. She didn't know this man, why should she tell him anything?

"I saw you staring of Melva and her son..." The man's voice was gentle as he crouched down to meet Rey's eye.

Rey shrugged, still unsure. She watched as the man set a large bag down by his feet.

"Oh, I'm getting too old to be carrying these around every year," he muttered, more to himself than to Rey.

"Who are you?" Rey asked.

The old man looked up from where he was rubbing at his knee and gave her a warm smile. "I'm Lor San Tekka, and it's Remembrance Day."

Rey frowned at Lor. "What's Remembrance Day?"

Lor 's smile didn't waver as he spoke. "My dear, it's the end of the Imperial Occupation of Jakku. People celebrate it by giving presents to their family."

Rey could feel her chest tighten as emotions rose into her eyes. "I don't know where my family is," she whispered, setting her own bag down next to Lor's, her arms suddenly feeling too tired to hold it up.

Lor's eyes softened. He reached into his sack and pulled out a small loaf of bread, just like the one the mother gave to her son. It was as long as Rey's arm and made with a hearty grain. 

Rey looked up at the man in awe. Was he just going to give her the bread?

"Go on," he said, his smile widening. "Take it."

Rey, struck dumb by this show of generosity, took the loaf with both of her hands.

"Happy Remembrance Day, my dear," he said, grunting as he rose from his kneeling position.

"Do -" Rey started. " Do you know if my family will come back?" she blurted out, taking hold of one of his calloused hands in hers, careful not to drop the precious loaf in the dirt.

Lor looked at her. "If it was meant to be, The Force will bring back your parents. But I think The Force has a different family in mind for you."

Rey smiled as hope filled her chest. Her family was out there somewhere, she just had to wait for them to find her.

That night, Rey sat outside her AT-AT. She had hotwired the single working spotlight on the front of the old transport and aimed it up at the sky. The loaf of bread in her lap as she stared up.

"I know you are coming," she whispered as the sun disappeared behind the dune to the west. 

Rey waited until the sky was completely dark and the moon had reached the highpoint in the sky before she finally broke off a piece of bread and ate it.

"I'm sorry, Mama," she whispered, "I'm sorry, Papa. I got hungry. But I'll see you when you get here."

She smiled and leaned back against the side of her AT-AT, her eyes drifting closed.

* * *

That became an annual tradition for Rey. Every year on Remembrance Day she would save up and walk the outpost to buy a treat. Then she would return to the AT-AT, switch on the lights and eat outside, falling asleep in the sand as she watched the sky for signs of her family. Every year she saw Lor San Tekka, he always had a little extra bread that she could add to her tradition. When Rey was fifteen, however, Lor was not at the outpost as normal.

Rey got scared. She knew the old man much better these days, and she knew he was always complaining about his stiff knee.

She finished dealing with Unkar and the other shops as quickly as she could, before hopping on her newly built speeder and driving off in the direction of his home.

It was a small hut on the edges of a grouping of other huts.

Rey parked her speeder and initiated the complicated lock procedure she built in to protect it from thieves.

She jogged up to the hut, barely remembering to knock and wait for permission before entering.

When she poked her head into the one room hut, she saw Lor lying in bed, sweat sticking to his face.

"Lor?" Rey asked, slipping closer to the bed. "Are you alright?"

Lor's head turned to her. It seemed to take a moment for her words to register before he smiled at her. "Hello, my dear," he said, his deep voice scratchy and hoarse.

"I didn't see you at the outpost today and I got worried," Rey muttered quietly.

"Thank you for checking on me." Lor tried to sit up but Rey stopped him, guiding him back down onto the mat. She could feel his shirt sticking to him with sweat and she immediately got more worried. 

Lor tried to get her to calm down, but Rey had set her mind to helping him, especially after seeing him almost fall when she helped him to the outhouse behind his hut.

Rey spent that Remembrance Day at Lor's house. Once he had fallen asleep, sometime around dusk, Rey went outside with her small loaf of bread. It was barely bigger than her fist, but it was different from her usual, she thought she could smell something sweet when she lifted the crust to her nose. She wished she could have given some to Lor, but he wasn't able to stomach much more than the simple broth she'd made from some old bones she'd found in his small kitchen.

She sat with her bread and the half empty bottle of water that she'd saved for this evening and watched as the sky got darker, the air around her growing colder.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, staring at her hands as she spoke. “I’m sorry I’m not where you expected me, but Lor’s sick, someone needed to help him.” She sniffled and wiped her nose on her sleeve. “I’ll be back tomorrow.” She glanced up at the sky again. “Please, please, if you’re here, don’t leave yet.”

She finished her loaf and brushed the last of her tears away, before going back inside. 

* * *

Rey sat in the cockpit of the  _ Falcon _ looking out at the lines of stars moving past them in hyperspace. It was Remembrance Day again, the first since she’d joined up with the Resistance months ago. Leia had insisted that they all have dinner together in the galley of the  _ Falcon _ , but Rey had slipped away at the first opportunity. 

It had been almost a year since she’d been on Jakku. Almost a year of being gone and not knowing if what Kylo had said about her family was true, or if, by some miracle, they had decided to come back for her and had found her missing.

She turned the loaf of bread she’d swiped from the dinner table in her hands. It was much richer than her usual fare, the crust was soft, and there were dried fruits baked into the center, but it was still a tradition. 

Poe had told her a month ago that Lor had died on Jakku, and Rey hadn’t been surprised. She was still getting used to the Force and all it meant, but his words had only felt like a confirmation of what she’d known all along. She had gone to her bunk aboard the  _ Falcon  _ and lay there for an hour, just remembering all the times Lor and all the kindness he had shown her. She had only emerged when BB-8 had rolled in to check on her, a present from Poe, one of the sweet rolls he knew she liked from the mess hall, tied in a napkin to one of the droid's appendages.

As she looked out the viewport again, she began to talk like she did every year.

"I'm sorry, Mama, I’m sorry, Papa," she whispered. "I know I haven't been on Jakku, I know it's been a long time since I've been there." She turned the fruit filled roll in her hands. “I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to come back. They need all the help they can get here.” Rey sniffled, blinking back tears. “I just- I wanted you to know that I’m okay. I’m with friends now. There are so many of them. I told you about Finn. He’s good. Rose is, too. And there’s Jess and Suralinda, and Karé and Snap and Chewie and the others. They’re all great, they really like me. The other day I made Suralinda laugh so hard she spilled her entire tray into Snap's lap. He was so annoyed, but I don't think Suralinda cared. And then there's Poe…" She trailed off, unsure of what she wanted to say next.

"And then Poe what?" a familiar voice came from the doorway to the cockpit.

Rey jumped, whirling around in her seat to see Poe standing there, two mugs of something in his hands. "I-I-"

Poe smiled as he took a seat in Chewie's oversized chair. "I thought you might want some tea, Leia mentioned you liked it." He held out one of the mugs to her.

Rey smiled as she set the bread down and accepted the warm cup, hoping against hope that it was too dim in the cockpit for him to see her blush.

"Why aren't you with the others?" she asked as she took a sip.

"I could ask you the same thing," Poe teased. "I wanted to make sure you were alright," he added in a softer voice. "You looked sad earlier."

Rey looked down, her finger trailing around the lip of her mug. "It's nothing," she whispered.

"You were talking to someone before I came in here…" Poe prodded gently.

"It's silly," Rey said.

"I highly doubt that."

Rey took a deep breath and looked out of the viewport again. "When I- when I was on Jakku, I used to spend every Remembrance Day talking to my parents. Lor told me once that Remembrance Day was about spending time with family, and, well, I've never really had one of those before…" Rey trailed off, glancing at Poe from the corner of her eye, not knowing what to expect from him.

Poe was leaning forward in his seat, his elbows on his knees as he studied her profile, his expression contemplative.

Rey looked away again as she continued. "Every year, I would save up and buy some of the good bread, the kind that doesn’t need to be rehydrated, and I would spend the evening watching the skies for my parents." Rey shrugged. "Eventually, I started talking to them, giving them updates on my life." Rey shrugged, still not meeting Poe's earnest eyes. "See, it's silly."

Poe gave a soft chuckle. "It's not." He set his mug down on the console and laid a warm hand on her wrist. "Wanting a family is the most natural thing in the galaxy, Sunshine. And missing the people you love even moreso."

Rey looked up at him and smiled softly. "Your mom?" she asked softly.

Poe nodded, his hand pulling at the chain around his neck. " I talk to her sometimes, at night when everyone else is asleep. It helps me remember her, helps me not to miss her as much as I still do.”

Rey nodded, letting the silence hang in the air for a few moments.

"Do you think they'll ever come back?"

"I don't know, but I do know this. You are not alone, not anymore. You always have a family with me, with all of us." Poe's expression was earnest as he spoke.

Rey could feel her eyes sting with tears. Without thinking, she leaned forward to kiss him on the check. She couldn't say what made her do it, she just wanted to thank him for everything he had done for her; for being her friend, even though he made her stomach tangle up every time he smiled at her.

Poe, startled by her sudden move, shifted slightly to look at her just as her lips landed on his.

Rey could feel the softness of his lips, could smell the lingering scent of the sweet rolls that had been served earlier on his breath. For a moment she just felt the kiss, then she jolted backwards, her hands coming up to hide her face. "I'm so sorry," she mumbled. "I don't know why I did that."

She could hear Poe give a breathy laugh before strong hands pulled hers away from her flaming checks. 

"Don't be sorry," he said, his eyes molten brown and full of emotion. Now that she wasn't hiding her face anymore one of his hands came up to cup her cheek. 

" I just-" Rey began, looking down at their entwined hands. "I'm sorry, I don't know why I get so nervous around you," she finished in a whisper.

"Maybe it's the same reason I get nervous around you," Poe countered.

"What?" Rey asked bewildered. "You don't get nervous. I've seen you laugh at a platoon of TIE-Fighters."

Poe laughed. "TIE's are easy, trying to appear calm and cool around the girl I really like is a whole other story."

"You like me?" Rey repeated, bemusedly.

"Yeah, Sunshine, I really do." Poe's eyes held her own.

Rey bit her lip, noticing how Poe's eyes flitted down to it for a second. "I- I really like you too."

"Really?" Poe's smile was enough to brighten the entire cockpit. 

"Well." Rey grinned. "I assume that's why it always feels like there's a thousand Carrier Butterflies rocketing around in my stomach everytime I talk to you." She looked down again. "And why I really want to kiss you again ," she whispered, a little hope creeping into her voice despite her best efforts.

Poe's hand tilted her chin up. She could see his wide smile. "I can make that happen." 

Rey smiled as Poe leaned in, kissing her properly, his hands sliding into her hair as his lips moved against hers.

Rey broke the kiss after a while, resting her forehead against Poe's, eyes still closed.

"Best Remembrance Day ever," Poe whispered, his nose brushing against hers.


End file.
